


I Want to Watch Over You

by LZClotho (LZielinsky)



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:22:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26044177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LZielinsky/pseuds/LZClotho
Summary: After "Someone to Watch Over Me" (season 5), Janeway comes clean about why she suggested to Seven to "try (romance) yourself." A first-time relationship story with increasing intimacy and eventual sexual relationship.
Relationships: Kathryn Janeway/Seven of Nine
Comments: 11
Kudos: 60





	1. Sandrine's Revisited

**Author's Note:**

> This story's chapters originally appeared online between 2001 and 2004 as separately named posts. Those names are now the chapter titles. Thanks to the advances in the internet, they are completely together in easy-reading order. I hope you enjoy. ~ LZ

"Doctor, could I speak with you?" The vibrant voice of Captain Kathryn Janeway jolted the Chief Medical Officer out of his reverie. Which wouldn't be much to comment on, except he was a hologram and not programmed for distracting daydreaming. 

Yet, he realized, as he looked and caught the silvery blue gaze of the compact redhead raising an elegant eyebrow at him from the doorway. "Captain. My apologies. I didn't hear you come in." He rubbed his hands on his uniform trousers and pursed his lips in an attempt at a smile. "What can I do for you?" 

"I have a question about Seven." He tried to keep the residual discontent of his last few days out of his face. He really did. But Janeway's next words told him he had utterly failed. 

"She says that you instructed her in dating practices. But she did not seem pleased with the results." 

"Did she say something?" he asked, recognizing trepidation in his voice. 

She eyed him askance, but said only, "No, she didn't. But something upset her about it. She wouldn't be direct with me." 

_ Uh oh _ . When Seven of Nine, former Borg drone and chillingly direct personage was dissembling...  _ No wonder the captain was here _ . "I guess that would be my fault, Captain. Seven came to me with a desire to experiment with romance." 

"That," the captain interjected sardonically, "would be my fault. I suggested instead of studying the crew that she ought to try it herself." 

The Doctor felt an odd flip-flop in his stomach--which said a lot since he didn't technically have a stomach. "You suggested it?" 

"I did." Now Janeway leaned back against the doorway, crossing her arms over her chest and looking down at her booted feet for a long moment. "I didn't have time to fully discuss it and planned to when I returned from the Kadi colony." She rolled her shoulders and straightened once more, crossing the office space as she spoke. "But now she won't talk to me at all about it." 

"It was conceivably her first 'failure' in her eyes, captain. 'Once burned, twice shy' and all that," he suggested amiably. 

Janeway's eyes lit up, suddenly going more gray than blue. "You know something." She brushed her hand over her hair brusquely, as if arranging her thoughts. "You're right." 

"Captain?" 

"Doctor, thank you for your help, but I think I know how to help Seven put this in perspective." 

Would you mind enlightening me? He asked, "How can you do that?" 

"I can give her a better experience to wipe away the bad memories." 

He nodded. "Certainly promising." He thought to point out however, "She found no one other than Lieutenant Chapman suitable for her." 

"Chapman's nice, Doctor, but hardly really a match for Seven." 

Again he nodded. "I suppose that's true. Who else did you have in mind?" 

That gave Janeway pause. She stopped in the middle of the office space, putting her hands on her hips and studying the floor back and forth as if she was watching herself pace. He thought it unusual, but said nothing. 

"I'll have to discover what she likes," she contemplated aloud. 

"She already did that." 

"Other things, Doctor." 

He considered what Seven's reaction might be to find the captain matchmaking for her. "Um, may I suggest something?" 

"Go ahead, Doctor." She sharply looked up at him from her thoughts. 

"You probably shouldn't tell Seven what you're doing until you've identified a partner. She might--"

"Get upset," Janeway finished. "Yes, I realize that." She frowned. "Thank you, Doctor."

"Good day, Captain." He stood in the doorway watching Janeway leave.  _ Between the two of them _ , the Doctor thought,  _ they would be able to help Seven yet _ . 

* * * 

"Janeway to Seven of Nine." 

Standing at the console in Astrometrics, the stately figure of nearly six feet of blonde ex- Borg jerked to attention following the call over her comm badge. Her hands still on the console's reflective panel then she tapped the badge over her left breast. "Yes, Captain. Seven here." 

"Would you join me in Holodeck 2." 

"Captain?" 

"I'd like to... apologize for asking you to rehash a painful situation. With a game of Velocity, perhaps?"

The usually burred tone of the captain's voice was decidedly meeker, Seven thought.

"Seven?" The silence on the comm line had obviously gone on too long. 

"All right, Captain. I will be right there." 

"Thank you, Seven. Janeway out." 

Seven of Nine logged off duty, shut down her calculations and exited Astrometrics, already looking forward to one of her customary Velocity matches with the captain. She admitted it was one of her more pleasurable non-duty activities.

* * * 

Dodging the red disc and firing, Janeway tipped the now-blue speeding object into a spiral, headed right for Seven. The long-limbed blonde dropped onto her back on the floor and stiff-armed her phaser in both hands. Her enhanced vision tracked and calculated trajectories over her head. 

When she fired, changing the disc color to red once more, the wild spin corrected to a smooth arc into the wall where Janeway could watch its path easily. 

Seven however spun on the floor as she rolled to her feet and her extended left leg swept Janeway off balance. 

"Hey!" Janeway's breath whooshed painfully from her lungs on impact with the floor. Blinking away tears of pain, she rolled to a sitting position to find Seven over her, a hand out. She caught a brief glimpse of the disc, still red, speeding toward Seven's back. 

"Captain?" She was reaching for Seven's hand, their fingers barely touching, when the disc impacted the younger woman. With the holodeck safety protocols engaged, the contact startled more than hurt. 

Seven's blue eyes went wide and she dropped to her hands next to the captain. The computer's voice forestalled Janeway's apology. 

_ "Full impact, Seven of Nine. Round to Janeway. Janeway leads three rounds to two."  _

The captain put a hand on Seven's shoulder. "Are you all right?" 

"I am undamaged, Captain." Brushing her loose hair from her cheeks, Seven rolled over and sat up, crossing her arms over her bent knees. "Are you injured?" 

"No, but I have to ask," she chuckled. "Was that your strategy?" 

"It was an accident, I assure you, Captain." They remained on the floor, shoulders close, breathing easily. Kathryn studied Seven's profile at close quarters, remembering how attractive she had found the smooth features when the ex-Borg had helped her in her ready room with the pip. 

Despite their exertions, Seven barely looked winded. Her skin had taken on a very delicate flush and the pulse in her throat was strongly evident, but not rapid. The starburst implant on Seven's right cheek, where her jaw met her ear drew her attention next. 

"Is there something you want to say, Captain?" Suddenly Janeway was caught in a sea of intense blue. 

"Um... No... Yes. Do you enjoy Velocity, Seven?" The blonde leaned back and Janeway was treated to an up-close view of the optical implant flexing over Seven's left eye, which only made her blue eyes seem brighter. 

"Yes." There was a short pause. "Why do you ask?" 

Janeway shrugged. "I don't know what sorts of things you enjoy. We're friends, I hope. I'd like to get to know you better." 

Seven looked askance at her. "You wish to get to know me better?" 

There was something in the inflection that made Janeway almost question Seven, but she couldn't put her finger on it, so said nothing. "Yes," she answered though. "I've shared things that I enjoy. Velocity. My Da Vinci program." She shrugged. "I guess I was wondering if those things really interest you, or if you just go along." 

Seven considered that. "Out of some reaction to you being my commanding officer?" Janeway nodded. "No. I honestly enjoy both this game and the forays we have made together into the Maestro's studio." She looked away for a moment. "You have shown me much about my humanity. I don't always... understand the lesson," she said, then looked back at Janeway. "However... I... appreciate... the activities." 

"Is there anything we don't... do... that you would like to experience?" Janeway wondered why her question had come out so oddly, but did not attempt to correct herself. 

"I... much enjoyed dancing when the Doctor explained it." 

"Do you?" she asked, wondering why her voice was low. "Do you know how to dance, Captain?" 

Janeway shrugged. "I suppose. There isn't much call for it in command school, though," she joked. "What else do you like to do?" 

"I do enjoy kadis-kot with Naomi." The blonde's voice filled with self-awareness and it put a smile on her face that made Kathryn catch her breath in appreciation. 

"I never played," she admitted. 

"I... could teach you." The offer seemed to come out of Seven without a conscious decision, but she kept her gaze steady on the captain's face even as her eyes briefly widened. 

Kathryn reached out and grasped Seven's knee with a light squeeze. "I'm sure you could," she answered with a light voice.  _ Now _ , she thought,  _ while things are relaxed _ . "Seven, will you join me for a drink?"

"I would... like that." The tall woman started to her feet as Janeway, next to her, did the same. But when she headed for the holodeck doors, the captain laid a hand across her bicep. 

"Computer, change program. Run ‘Paris 16’.” 

The Velocity court vanished. Immediately it was replaced by the vibrant eddies of lamp light and shadows, quiet tables and soft music of the French establishment of Sandrine's. 

Seven backed up in surprise--directly into the patient maitre'd. 

"Mademoiselle," he asked, completely unflappable, though Janeway could see Seven's eyes widen once more. "May I seat you?" he asked. 

"I--" Seven looked at Janeway, the smile falling away from her face. "Why did you do this?" She did not sound angry, just disturbed. 

Not so long ago it would have been absolutely understood that Seven would object to anything Janeway suggested simply to assert her right to make an individual choice. In recent months however, Janeway had proven herself to Seven with measurable results. And a trust had grown. 

Seven trusted her to have her best interests in mind as far as it was possible on a starship where some decisions still came down on the hard side. 

“Getting our drinks.” Kathryn appreciated that trust, hugged it to herself with pride. Now she led Seven of Nine to two seats at the bar. 

Determined to make the experience as different from Seven's date as possible, Janeway requested two cups of tea and immediately engaged Seven in a topic she knew the young woman could comfortably speak on for hours: Astrometrics. 

"I had Chakotay set a new heading through the Kadi system since we finished negotiations. Care to tell me what we'll find on the other side?" 

Seven immediately perked up. She had, Janeway noticed, been surveying the room with timid glances. "Sector 394. Two star systems are controlled by Species 6641. Moderate technology and space travel. The Borg catalogued them but did not bother with assimilation." 

"Waiting for them to evolve a few centuries?" Janeway's question accompanied a chuckle. 

The blonde's reaction was immediate and charmingly shy. The superior expression fled, replaced with a drop of her chin and cheeks that pinkened with embarrassment. 

"Ah, Seven. I meant nothing." She laid her hand over Seven's on the bar. "You'll be all right." She lifted her teacup and sipped quietly. In the lull she heard the music of the piano and glanced over to see the Doctor at the keys. She wasn't surprised. The holographic doctor would have known that the open program had been activated. She could also soon expect other crewmembers to take advantage of the relaxing atmosphere. 

She put her hand once more on Seven's shoulder and brought the woman's attention around to the music as well. "The Doctor plays very well, don't you think so?" 

"His technique is exceptional." 

"What do you think of his choice of songs?" 

Seven's gaze unfocused briefly as she identified the melody and cross-referenced to the title. "It is 'Someone to Watch Over Me'," she said. 

When Seven refocused she found Janeway's gaze centered on her face. The older woman's hand slid down her arm and over her mesh-covered left. "Come on," she said. "I'll show you how to play pool." 

"I do not swim, Captain." 

"Not swimming pool." Kathryn grasped the young woman's hand and tugged her toward the back where the light was even fainter, the air smokier, and the rumble of conversation louder. She could feel the tension leaving Seven the further they ventured from the dining room. "The game pool. Also sometimes called billiards." 

She stopped before a rectangular table covered with green felt containing six pockets. With pleasure, she watched Seven's face, mobile with emotion, as she examined the table. 

"It's all a matter of physics," Janeway explained. "This is a cue stick." She then held up the white ball. "Cue ball. You use the stick to hit it into the others. The goal," she concluded, moving back to Seven's side, " Is to be the first to clear your balls from the table." She pressed the stick into Seven's hands. "You first." 

She positioned herself beside Seven, settling the woman's hands on the stick. She wrapped her arms around Seven's waist capturing the stick and Seven's hands with her own. 

"Captain?" 

The words brought Seven's warm breath across the crown of Janeway's hair. She looked up into suddenly gray eyes and realized that Seven's was uncertain about something. "I'm just showing you how to shoot." 

"I am... not... objecting." 

"Good." Impishly Kathryn smiled. "Now, let's have some fun." She guided Seven through a break and two more shots. "Now you do it." She continued to arrange the balls on the table as much to draw Seven's attention away from her discomfort as to prepare the table for the actual game. 

That earned Janeway an abashed smile that she answered with a warm one of her own. "I will try." Seven settled the stick in both hands, then poked it after a fashion at the cue ball which caromed into the triangular arrangement of balls. 

Kathryn cupped her hand over her eyes.  _ Dear God, I had to mention physics _ . Obviously more rapidly than even Janeway, who was formidable, Seven had calculated all the forces involved. Eight of the fifteen balls rolled quietly into the various six pockets. 

"An intriguing exercise," Seven concluded. She started to return the cue stick to Janeway, who waved it off. 

"No, it's still your turn. If you sink a ball, you are allowed to continue. You sank four of each, stripes and solids." She pointed out which type was which. "Which would you like to claim?" 

"Is there an advantage to either?" Janeway shook her head. "I shall choose solids then." 

"All right. From here on, you can only sink the solid colored balls. Except the 8. It's special and reserved last. You forfeit the game if you sink it prematurely. Also you lose your turn if you sink the cue ball." 

"I understand." Seven bent forward again, aligning another shot, unwittingly providing the captain with an enticing view of her shapely rear. After their close proximity teaching the ex-Borg to shoot, Kathryn felt her face flush and moved around to instead see Seven's face. The analytical look was there, but also a smile that curved her full lips and put a wonderful sparkle in her blue eyes. Janeway heard the soft thunk of another ball dropping into the pocket. "Nice shooting," she extolled.

Seven stood and examined the table again. Then she looked up to find the captain smiling at her once again. The pride in the older woman's voice and the sparkle of pleasure in her eyes gave Seven a flutter in her stomach. She returned her attention to the table calculating angles in her head. 

"I want to continue the conversation we started before I left for the Kadi colony." 

Seven drew up tightly. "I have not been studying the crew any more, Captain." 

"I'm aware of that. I thought you might want some... advice where to begin." 

Seven's summary of the evening was clipped. "The doctor assisted me. I identified a suitable match and acquired a 'date.' We consumed a meal and... danced. Then... he left." 

Kathryn could feel her heart hammering as she heard what Seven said, as well as what she did not. "Perhaps you tried to do too much at once. Dinner and dancing. Have you considered simply having a drink? Or conversation?" 

"Alcohol impairs my cortical function. 'Small' talk is... unsatisfying." 

"It doesn't have to be alcohol," Janeway amended. Standing straight she walked back over to Seven. 

She returned her attention to the table but her mind did not wish to focus, instead drawing her eyes time and again to the compact woman in the red-shouldered Starfleet uniform who seemed to be enjoying herself in a rare moment. 

It came to Seven then as she missed her shot, that the captain was lonely.  _ Why else would such an intriguing woman spend an evening teaching a game to her, an insignificant drone? _ They traded shots a few more times and each time the captain's light conversation, about what she had seen on the Kadi colony, simply filled the air with a quiet serenity. 

Now, she handed the cue stick to Janeway and watched the captain, who despite her very imperfect Humanity, cleared three of her striped balls, one at a time, leaving herself only the eight ball to sink to win. 

"You are an excellent player, Captain." 

"I manage," she smiled. "Are you enjoying yourself?" Janeway asked as the black ball rolled across the green felt surface and concluded their game by mutely dropping into the near corner pocket.

Seven enjoyed the smile, slow and full, with which Janeway graced her. "Yes, I am," she answered. 

The captain came around the table and reached up, brushing her thumb over Seven's cheek. "You had a bit of cue chalk," she murmured as she slowly pulled her hand back. 

Skin tingling where the captain had touched, Seven thought this was part of the game. So she identified a light blue smudge on the captain's chin and brushed it clean with her thumb. The feel of the captain's skin against hers sent a jolt through her stomach. 

The gesture was unconscious but however it happened, Seven's hand lifted Janeway's chin as it left her face and brushed down across the woman's throat. The warm wool of the uniform's undertunic finally ended the contact of fingertips to skin. 

Their blue gazes were inches apart, each unconsciously breathed the other's air. In the same moment, Janeway acknowledged the heat and gaze of the young woman. She also acknowledged a need of her own: contact with Seven. She took the half-step necessary to bring their bodies together. Then her left hand, which she held on Seven's cheek slipped into the blonde hair and unpinned it. Cupping her palm she guided the full lips to her own. 

Her other hand slid up from Seven's left hand to lightly grasp the woman's muscular bicep as she tasted Seven for the first time. 

She tasted of the tea they had drunk, of smooth cream and a unique spiciness. It was only a brief touch, of mingling lips, but it left the captain hungering for more. Even though she pulled away, she groaned softly. 

Seven's senses caught the captain's scent, a musk and sweet licorice which sped her own heart rate up and kicked her adrenal glands into response. The sound of the captain's groan made her shiver. 

Instinctively both women tightened their holds, wrapping their hands around each other's upper arms. 

"Seven." The first word either had spoken in nearly a minute caught both the younger woman and the old, who had uttered it, off guard, which served to bring them back to the reality of where they were. 

Or rather the unreality. The sounds of piano music, another pool game starting and glasses being clinked by patrons crashed in on both Janeway and Seven. The latter was shockingly still. 

"Seven." The blonde woman remained silent except for her breathing, which was shallow and fast. "Seven, talk to me. Please say something." Janeway's blue eyes searched the young woman's face. 

"Are you... going to leave now?" There was a timid quality to Seven's voice. The shock of that simple, almost forlorn statement struck Janeway silent. The world of Sandrine's crashed in once again. Dead silent. She looked around to find dozens of gazes, belonging to holo-characters and crew members alike, studying them intently. 

Kathryn blushed. Seven's face took on a ruddy cast as well and Janeway's protective instincts, never buried far where this woman was concerned, flared. She cupped Seven's elbow and escorted the younger woman back to the bar, where she settled Seven before turning to the rest of the room and declaring, "Show's over." 

Chakotay caught her eye across the room and smiled, then shrugged. Completely composed he threw his dart. 

Absently she noted where it landed:  _ Bullseye _ . 

"Captain?" Seven's voice drew Janeway's attention back instantly. "I suppose this is 'good night'." 

Janeway shook her head. "No. Why?" 

"The 'good night kiss' presumably concluded our 'date'," she responded quietly. Kathryn took a deep breath. There it was, the perfect excuse for her behavior. Seven had decided that this was a lesson, pure and simple. The captain's kiss nothing more or less than a component of that instruction. 

The problem was, it hadn't been. Janeway studied Seven's face and saw strain in her eyes. In response to that look, and acknowledging her own feelings, she told the truth. "No, Seven. I was not simply kissing you to conclude our evening. I... felt something... very deeply and... needed... to share it with you." Even now she could feel the beginning of another surge of affection and arousal washing through her, setting her fingertips tingling. But she kept her eyes on Seven's face. 

To find out if the captain's reactions could somehow help her quantify her own, Seven asked, "What did you feel?" 

"Shh, come with me. I... don't think this is the best place to talk." Chakotay, she saw over Seven's shoulder, smiled vaguely and dramatically pantomimed being shot in the heart. Determinedly looking away Kathryn smiled and brushed her fingertips over Seven's ocular implant and the starburst on her right cheek. 

Seven would not be stalled. "What did you feel? Please?" 

Janeway responded to that need, stark and soft in Seven's voice. She turned to face the young woman, looking up into swirls of blue that seemed to beg her for guidance. They were half out the door of the holodeck. It didn't matter. She felt the answer form in her mind, and she knew it was right. "Love." 

Seven's hands squeezed lightly on her bicep. Her wonderful soft low voice was filled with amazement, disbelief, and, if Kathryn wasn't mistaken, a little relief as well. "You... love me?" 

Kathryn nodded, feeling her eyes tear up and seeing Seven's do the same. The emotion really was amazingly overpowering. "Yes. Yes, I do. Seven, I love you." 

"Captain... Kathryn. I... love you too." In the corridor, the kiss they shared following that admission was the sweetest of all. Soft and dry it was an exchange of breath as their mouths touched. Then Kathryn's tongue tasted Seven's lips that parted unconsciously, permitting a sensuous exploration of the velvet interior. They both groaned in pleasure at the taste. 

When it ended, Seven's head rested on Janeway's hair and Kathryn's cheek found its resting place against the fabric of Seven's suit covering her left shoulder. The ex-Borg's long fingers lingered in the captain's short auburn hair. The contentment and safety the older woman felt brought tears to her eyes. 

"Kathryn?" 

"Yes?" 

"Is this what you meant when you asked if I had considered romance?" 

Blue eyes bright with unshed emotion lifted. "I... don't think... I realized it consciously." 

"If this is what you wanted, why did you never say anything?" 

She felt Seven's fingers twine with hers as they walked, almost absently, toward Cargo Bay 2. With a careful, small breath, Janeway admitted, "This can never be... if it is only what I want." 

"Ah. Thus the questions." Seven shook her head. "Sometimes the human tendency for subterfuge confuses me." She bent her head and touched her own forehead to Janeway's, meeting the blue eyes with her own. "Why did you not simply ask?" 

The auburn-haired woman quirked a smile.  _ Why indeed? _ "Seven of Nine, do you want to pursue a relationship with me?" 

There was a long moment of silence as the words hung in the air they breathed together. Then Seven spoke. "I do." 

Faced with such simple conviction and determination, Janeway felt her chest expand with overwhelming emotions: joy, fear, expectation, and fulfillment. 

"What will we do now?" Seven asked, contentedly cradling Janeway in her arms and inhaling the scent of her hair. 

Janeway considered that. Her palms drifted over the slope of Seven's chest, hidden by her sleeveless Velocity tunic. There was acknowledged attraction, but was right now the time to act on it? Taking a deep breath, she decided no. "We look forward to our next date," she said quietly. "Would you like to have lunch in the hydroponics bay tomorrow?" 

Seven considered the request only a moment before accepting. "I'd like that very much, Captain," she answered formally. 

Janeway's palms cupped her cheeks and Seven found herself subjected to another brief tender kiss. "Call me Kathryn." 

"Yes... Kathryn. I... look forward to tomorrow." Janeway gently settled the young woman into the gravimetric field of her alcove. There was a soft click as the regeneration conduits clicked into place. She pressed a kiss to Seven's palm before releasing the woman's hand. With a quick step, she stood before the console and tapped in the regeneration sequence. The 'routine' skill, something Seven had taught her as a matter of a captain being able to look out for her crewmember's well being, took on a more intimate meaning. 

Seven's eyes twinkled with a similar change in perspective. "Good night, Kathryn." 

"Good night, Seven." She activated the program and stood in observant silence as Seven's eyes closed and the woman receded into upright sleep. 


	2. A Natural Course

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seven and Janeway go for a date at the hydroponics bay.

**_In Astrometrics, the next morning..._ **

Seven of Nine expended very little concentration on her duties. The calculations of trajectories, shield harmonics, recording gravitationally significant pulsars and other starship- diverting phenomena were having a hard time competing with the young woman's memories of the previous evening. Her eidetic memory spent the hours luxuriating in the sights, sounds and smells from her activities in Chez Sandrine's, one of the ship's open holodeck programs. 

The Doctor's piano music in the background became a pleasing hum in her ears as the projected starfield shifted. The patterns were no longer just stars. The blue shift became Kathryn's eyes. 

A breathtaking smile lit up Seven's face as she remembered the satin feel of Kathryn's cheeks under the pads of her fingers. 

"Seven?" Abruptly her face flushed sharply. Seven turned to see Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres, Voyager's Chief Engineer, entering the Astrometrics lab. "Lt. Torres," she greeted briefly. 

"I knocked. No one answered." The compact woman, her almond skin and broad ridged forehead indicative of her half-Klingon heritage, gestured over her shoulder. "What are you working on that's got you so engrossed?" 

Uncomfortable with the socially easy-going engineer at the best of times, Seven was reluctant to share her thoughts regarding the captain. "I am laying in the star charts for the next fifteen sectors," she explained simply. 

"Anything anomalous?" Torres asked easily. She moved alongside Seven and scanned the readouts.

"Two class 15 pulsars, and a class 8 nebula which spans two sectors."

"Sounds like dry stuff." Seven watched the engineer straighten, as if drawing herself back to something unpleasant. "You wouldn't want to take a break from this, would you?" 

"I do not require a break." 

"Ah, well." B'Elanna frowned and then presented her situation quickly in a verbal rush. "I've got some equations for adjustments to the warp coils. The captain told me to get your opinion." 

Seven stepped back from her board, settling her hands calmly behind her back. "If you require my assistance, I can delay the completion of this project." 

"It's not..." B'Elanna looked at the chronometer readout. "Hey, we could make this easy. Discuss it over lunch?" She offered a wry smile and a shrug. 

"I cannot eat lunch with you," Seven replied calmly. 

The lieutenant seemed stymied for a moment. "You eat. I know you do." 

"I... have other plans." 

Torres blinked. "Really? After what Tom told me... I thought you and the doctor..." 

"The Doctor is not--" 

"Chapman? After that 'date' I'd have thought--" 

Seven sighed. It was obvious that the engineer was having a hard time with something. "If you would stop speculating, Lieutenant Torres, I will tell you." 

The woman's lips snapped shut for a long startled moment. Then she ventured, "All right, Seven. So what are you doing for lunch?" 

"I have been invited to join the captain for her meal." Seven found herself unable to interpret the expression that next shaped the other woman's features. Her forehead ridges flexed. Her skin, normally dark, paled. 

"The captain? I didn't think she did anything other than coffee during her shift." The smaller woman stepped back, scanning the Borg's face with an expression Seven interpreted as amazement. "In fact I don't recall her ever taking a lunch break." Dark brown eyes settled on Seven's. "So how'd you manage to pry her away from the big chair?" 

Absorbing the idiom-laced sentence, Seven finally comprehended. "I did not ask the captain. She asked me." 

"How did you do it, Seven?" Torres shook her head. "Well, here's the work. Maybe after lunch you could come down to Engineering?" 

"Yes, Lieutenant." Seven glanced at the PADD then back up in time to see the lab doors close behind a departing Torres. 

She had just turned back to her board when her comm badge chirped. "Janeway to Seven of Nine." The captain's low burr resounded in the quiet room. 

"Seven here, Captain." 

"Ready for our lunch?" 

"Yes, Captain. I will meet you in the hydroponics bay." 

Janeway's voice came back, altered slightly, the alteration sent a warm sensation down Seven's spine to rest comfortingly in her stomach. "I'm looking forward to it. Janeway out." 

Efficiently the Borg logged off her board and exited the lab. 

**_On the bridge..._ **

Janeway looked up at Chakotay as her hand dropped from her comm badge. Seeing the light smirk, she called him on it. "It's just lunch." 

"Perfectly natural," he replied with a widening grin. "So... are you happy?" 

"Taking it slowly," she responded. "This is new to me." She stood and straightened her uniform. "Not only is Seven the least experienced person I've ever had feelings for, but..." Her voice trailed away wistfully. "I must sound pretty silly, hmm?" 

Chakotay stepped back and put his head down for a long moment. "No," he said finally. "Grab it, Kathryn. With both hands. If it will make you less alone." 

She let her eyes, more blue now than gray, drift up to meet his. Her smile barely quirked but her hand was warm on his upper arm. "Thank you." She paused then asked, "Would you do me a favor?"

He nodded. "Anything."

"Keep my comm badge quiet for an hour?" 

He smiled broadly, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he stifled a chuckle. "Only an hour?" 

She playfully slapped his stomach with the back of her hand as she passed him then. Obligingly he grunted in mock pain before following her out of the Ready Room onto the bridge. "You have the bridge, Commander," she stated formally, separating from him at the command chairs and going up to the turbolift. 

"Yes, Captain." She didn't look over her shoulder but she could hear the laughter in his voice and pictured the grin on his face as he settled into the captain's chair to monitor the readouts. 

_ Now _ , she thought,  _ I can look forward to Seven of Nine with a clear conscience _ . Her "angry warrior" had told her he still only wanted to see her happy. Even if it wasn't with him. 

That kind of friendship with a male Janeway had never quite managed before. She realized the value of it now. 

Seven was just entering the hydroponics bay as Kathryn came out of the turbolift within sight of the entrance. The young woman wore her blue unitard, the fabric snug against generous curves. Janeway smiled with a bit of a leer; Kathryn on the other hand almost swooned when Seven glanced back over her shoulder and those cool ice blue eyes darkened on contact with her face. 

_ Dear God, I am in love _ , Kathryn thought, feeling her pulse race and her cheeks heat under the smile transforming Seven’s normally austere face. Her own stomach squeezed in anticipation as she quickly moved to Seven's side. 

"Seven," she breathed in greeting. 

"Captain." The former Borg inclined her head and swept the captain's figure. 

Janeway reached out and found Seven's hand, the long fingers slid easily between her own. The touch was electric. "I'm glad you could break away from your work." 

"I would never deny you anything," Seven replied simply, quietly. 

The sentiment, so casually uttered, still served to overwhelm Kathryn. She swallowed. "Are you very hungry?" 

"Not particularly," Seven admitted. 

"Well let's see what there is light to eat." Aware that her own appetite had also distinctly shifted away from food, Janeway determined to move slowly. She led the two of them into the large bay, overgrowing with a profusion of nature. 

One part had carefully cultivated edible specimens--Neelix's leola roots and various spices. Another part, Kes's contribution, had walkways among potted beds of flowers, bushes and even small fruit-bearing trees. Anything could be harvested, but the natural areas served beautifully as a park and picnic spot. 

There was even a large grass area, the long stalks given over to "wilderness." It was here that Janeway led Seven. "Have a seat, I'll be right back." The long legged woman settled primly onto the ground, fingers sliding through the green as she watched Janeway at the replicator. 

"Does anyone else come here?" Seven asked. 

"This was... Kes's favorite place on the entire ship. She tended it. Some of the crew enjoy it, I suppose, though it's frequently empty whenever I can break away. Most people are more inclined to go to one of the star-viewing lounges or the mess hall for their meals." 

Janeway returned to Seven's side, bearing a tray with vegetable-filled bread pockets and a pair of glasses filled with a light yellow liquid. Setting it between them on the ground, she offered the first glass to Seven. "It's lemonade," she explained. 

Seven nodded and sipped. The flavor was tart, but not overly much. "Pleasant," she commented. 

"My mother used to make it sour enough to pucker our cheeks. Phoebe and I would make faces." 

"Phoebe?" 

Janeway leaned back on her elbows. "My sister. Younger." Janeway offered Seven a bite of her bread pocket. 

The younger woman's straight white teeth bit into the offering, her lips brushing Janeway's fingers. Their eyes met as Seven chewed and swallowed. "Thank you." She watched Janeway take a bite herself. "Please, tell me more of your sister. Do you miss her?" 

"She was a horrid tease when we were growing up," Janeway lamented. "Some days I just wanted to dump her over the nearest cliff... Of course, being Indiana, there weren't any," she chuckled. "So I suffered in silence." 

"You do miss her though. Somehow I... sense it." 

Kathryn dusted her fingers together, freeing them of crumbs. "Yes, I do." 

"Is she very much like you?" 

Shaking her head, Kathryn explained, "Not at all. We are as different as night and day. She's artistic." Her tone suggested that was all the explanation necessary. 

"As are you," Seven pointed out. When Janeway raised an eyebrow in question, she clarified, "Master Da Vinci?" 

Nodding, Janeway finished her meal, musing on the point. "I guess I am. But you should see Phoebe's work. I ribbed her, but... she is... really quite good." 

"You... envy... your sister? Why?" Seven's gaze caught Kathryn's in earnest. "You are very successful, Kathryn. Envy suggests you believe that she is somehow better." 

Leaning back, Kathryn examined her feelings toward her sister, even as she studied the branches of a tree overhead. "It's... just a sister thing I suppose." 

"I do not have any siblings," Seven responded, following the other woman's gaze up to the tree. "What are you looking at?" 

"Nothing. Just thinking about home," Janeway admitted. "I grew up on land a lot like this." She patted a patch of ground on her other side and watched as Seven accepted the invitation and moved next to her. "Do you have any memories of a planetside life?" 

"Personally? No. My parents preferred space." Seven turned her mind inward, searching her sparse memories pre-assimilation, for anything else. "I think we did go planetside occasionally. I seem to have a vague memory of my mother treating me for a bee sting." She shivered and blinked, refocusing and finding Janeway's eyes on her face. 

Sympathetically Janeway brushed her shoulder. "I wasn't crazy about it at the time, but at the Academy I found myself always seeking out the wilderness spots. I used to study, reclining like this, on a grassy knoll or... up in the branches of a tree." 

"You climbed trees?" 

"Oh yes," Janeway chuckled. "I like my comforts now, but I was quite the tomboy as a child." 

"I have never... I cannot picture it." 

"Next time I grant R & R, I'll take you down and you can try it." 

"Certainly I am too big?" 

"We'll just have to find a big tree." Janeway had now lain all the way back, hands crossed over her stomach and legs crossed at the ankles. She regarded the roof of the bay with a sigh. "Mmm, that was good." 

"You should relax more often, Captain." 

"Haven't really felt like it... Hard to find time to spend alone, just quiet when there are so many responsibilities. Besides... Alone I get... pensive." 

"You mean you start second-guessing yourself." 

Janeway's eye quirked at Seven. "Something like that." 

"I... like seeing your smile." Seven touched the expression in question, lightly tracing her fingertips over Janeway's lips. 

The air crackled between them and Janeway found her hands sliding from Seven's lips to her chest as the former Borg leaned over her. The motion drew the younger woman even closer as if she was caught in a strengthening magnetic field. Seven's hands slipped from Janeway's face to rest on the ground to either side of Kathryn's throat. 

The touch of their lips deepened until she felt the smaller woman's hands slide up her sides, and behind her neck. Gentle fingers slid into her hair. 

When they parted for breath, Kathryn's voice filled with awe. "Seven." "Kathryn." Seven studied the warm blue eyes, then, drawn to the rapidly beating pulse in the captain's throat, she touched her fingers to it. Trailing a hand exploratively down Janeway's chest, she felt a small point of hardness form beneath her palm as she rested against the captain's heartbeat. Her gaze returned to Kathryn's eyes, unaware how her pupils had dilated with desire. 

But Kathryn saw. Tenderly she traced the younger woman's rapid pulse before tugging the blonde head down for another kiss. Easy explorations of mouths, lips and tongues gave way to nips along the elegant column of the blonde's throat. Seven's involuntary moan of pleasure warmed Kathryn to the core, as she introduced the young Borg to her own arousal. She traced fingers over hardening nipples straining against already skin-tight fabric. 

Seven's unitard parted under her fingers. She captured Seven's mouth again with her own, feeling Seven's touch on her own uniform jacket zipper. The tug as the zipper stubbornly caught once before giving way, made her smile against Seven's full lips. Her blood pounded so loudly in her ears she almost missed the chirp of her comm badge. 

Almost. With a groan of physical pain Kathryn tore her mouth away from Seven's, brushing the blonde's hair soothingly while the Borg fought for breath and calm, even as she moved away and seized the badge. 

"Janeway here." 

"Bridge, captain. We have two vessels on intercept courses." 

"Whose?" 

Seven's arms wrapped around Janeway's waist as the blonde buried her face in the woman's right shoulder, away from the badge on the left. 

"Hirogen." 

"On my way. Initiate Red Alert." Kathryn closed her eyes and opened them again, with a worried smile to Seven as she once again set aside the woman, bringing the captain to the fore. 

The red alert klaxon began to sound as she bolted for the bay doors, Seven on her heels. In the turbolift, she rezipped her uniform jacket and ran quick fingers through her hair. Seven did the same. 

They parted at deck 6, where Seven exited to report to Astrometrics. "Be careful, Kathryn," Seven offered when she paused at the turbolift doors. 

"I will." 


	3. Duty Calls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seven and Janeway are pulled away from their date to handle a ship crisis.

**Voyager's bridge, moments later...**

"Report." Captain Janeway's terse request hit Commander Chakotay's ears before her boots finished hitting the bridge deck. Exiting the turbolift, she braced herself on the railing overlooking the command well as Voyager's first officer twisted around to look up at her. 

"The Hirogen are not responding to hails..." He trailed off as the ship rocked, causing everyone to grab for a handhold. 

"They're firing on us," Harry Kim reported from Ops.

"Evasive maneuvers, Mr. Paris," Janeway locked down her emotions, determined to get the ship through the confrontation first before any other considerations. "Can we get any more speed?"

"We're already at Warp 8. Engineering reports 8.5 is our maximum at the moment."

"What is the condition of the Hirogen vessels?" she demanded, glancing toward Lt. Tuvok at Tactical. 

Voyager's security chief reported quickly. "The ships are fully armed."

"Can we disable their engines?" "I am attempting to calculate the impact points now." 

"Whenever you're ready," she barked back. He looked up, his right eyebrow lifting sanguinely over his coal-black eyes. 

"Yes, Captain." Though it felt like an eternity as the two Hirogen vessels converged on their position, it was only another minute before the Vulcan's careful inflection reported back. "Targeting online. Firing." 

"On screen." The view shifted to follow the sharp pinpoints from Voyager's phasers as they intersected one Hirogen hull. 

"No effect." 

"Evasive maneuvers, Tom!" Janeway ordered. In reaction to their phaser fire, the Hirogens began a counterattack in earnest. Voyager was rocked stem to stern. 

At Ops, the youngest bridge officer, Ensign Harry Kim, straight from the Academy when they left Deep Space 9 six years ago, kept her apprised of the damages. 

"We've lost integrity in the starboard nacelle. Decks eight, nine and ten suffered seven points of explosive decompression. Repair teams have been dispatched." 

"Tuvok?" Janeway shot a look over her shoulder as she braced herself over her readouts.

"Our weapons are doing minimal damage to the vessels, Captain." He studied another reading. "Captain, they are preparing to detonate a subspace charge."

"Shields to full!" She looked toward the viewscreen and the menacing hulk of the Hirogen vessel bearing down. "All hands! Brace for impact!" 

When it came, the ship lost inertial control completely and temporarily lost its artificial gravity field, beginning to tumble and roll, which normally didn't matter. In space there was no up or down. But without it, Voyager's crew was tossed about the ship. 

Paris at the helm, held on, finally steadying the ship's flight and nose-diving out of the way of the forward Hirogen ship. 

The maneuver happened so quickly that even as Janeway rolled back to her feet from the floor, the two Hirogen vessels collided spectacularly exploding in a ball of gases. 

"Any survivors?" she demanded. 

From Ops, Harry reported. "No life signs in the debris field, Captain." 

"Damage report." From the looks of the bridge, where a deck beam had fallen and a dozen panels had blown out from the energy exploding behind them, the ship had taken considerable damage from the last series. 

"Decks eight, nine, ten, fourteen. The engines are offline. Thrusters are operational, life support has been lost to the cargo bays, power to the eight grids starboard of the shuttle bay has been cut off. Engineering and rescue crews have been dispatched." 

While Harry reported the damage throughout the ship, Janeway leaned over and pushed a deck beam aside, finding Chakotay caught underneath it. He was conscious, and grasped her hand as she offered it to him. 

He groaned as he stood. His uniform was torn, revealing several gashes. "Get to sickbay, Commander." 

Chakotay looked at her and blinked, trying to clear his vision. When he did, it was to see her dusting her hair from her face. No, it wasn't hair. "Looks like you need attention too." The captain had a dark streak of blood trailing down from her left temple across her cheek. 

"Tuvok?" The Vulcan looked all right. 

"I am fine, Commander." 

"You have the bridge then." Chakotay and Janeway, both privately considering seatbelts in the command chairs in the future, walked together to the turbolift. She called out "Sickbay" as the doors closed. 

"Hell of a ride, Kathryn," he offered as they leaned against the wall of the lift, arms crossed over their chests. 

"Nothing worked?" 

He shook his head. "Guess they determined to make Voyager their latest trophy." He looked at her solemnly for a long moment and then leaned forward, squinted and touched her head. When his hand came back both blinked at the short blades of grass that had been obviously tucked in her hair. 

"Sorry we interrupted... lunch," he apologized. 

Janeway promised herself she would not blush, but she could feel heat creeping up her throat. "Let's just get the ship back in order," she said. 

He nodded and dropped the grass blades onto the deck. They emerged just a hundred yards from Sickbay and walked amid the others streaming into the medical facility. Various crew members carried friends or colleagues who had been injured too severely to walk on their own. 

"Doctor?" 

"Hello, Captain. Commander." Voyager's Chief Medical Officer, once a simple Emergency Medical Hologram but who functioned well beyond that original program now, strode between biobeds making assessments. "You're mobile," he said even as he scanned and repaired Lieutenant Ayala's broken fibula. "Grab a medikit from the third locker and start over there where I've assembled the cuts, bumps and bruises." 

Janeway stifled her automatic nod at the autocratic tone. Chakotay spun, found the locker in question and withdrew the kit. After passing it over his face and torn shoulder, Janeway handed him the dermal regenerator and submitted as he passed it over her own cuts before they both moved to the biobed where a line had formed. 

Their first patient was Ensign Beratt, with a muscle-deep laceration on his left forearm. "Captain?" 

"Just helping out, Ensign," she explained with a smile as she held his arm for Chakotay. 

He flexed the limb experimentally when she released it. "Good as new. Thank you." Beratt slid from the biobed and another slid into place. 

"Crewman Killian," Chakotay greeted. With a motion he tilted Killian's head back, her tumble of jet-black curls falling across her shoulders. The hum of the dermal regenerator sealed up and then healed the laceration that split her left cheek very close to her brown eyes. 

"Thank you, Commander. Captain," she said with a weary smile and Janeway grasped her under her arm and helped her off the biobed. 

The doors to sickbay slid open and Janeway automatically looked up at the sound even as she was helping Crewman Lister onto the biobed, his leg wound making it difficult to maneuver. She froze in place. 

Seven was hunched over and the arms wrapped around her waist were plainly evident as B'Elanna Torres, Voyager's Chief Engineer, stumbled in with her. 

"Seven. B'Elanna." Janeway's call startled both women who looked up and changed direction toward her. 

The captain left Chakotay treating patients, grabbed another medikit and gestured both women into the Doctor's office, the only unoccupied space remaining in the medical bay. 

She started scanning and found B'Elanna had two fractured ribs, a separated shoulder, a dislocated knee and a broken foot. Seven wasn't in much better shape. Two of her implants had twisted through her left thigh, and her right arm was broken while her internal organs seem to have been tossed around and badly bruised. Janeway's heart clutched as she considered Seven was internally bleeding. 

“What happened to you?" 

"We were attempting to realign the shields on Deck ten when inertial dampers and gravity went offline," Seven replied concisely. 

"Well, you slammed into something pretty hard," she countered. 

"We were in very tight quarters," B'Elanna explained. The shield generator down there is tucked inside Jeffries tube 1-9-4." She rubbed her head. "I think my head hit her stomach." 

Since B'Elanna's skull was in effect armor-plated... "That explains the internal bleeding." She pulled out the bone-knitter. "How'd you end up sporting a broken leg?" 

Seven, Janeway saw, blushed. "I grabbed Lieutenant Torres... with my left hand." Blue eyes lifted to blue eyes.

Janeway found herself smothering a chuckle. "So is that how you got the black eye?" 

"I slugged her in reflex, Captain." 

"I don't doubt it, B'Elanna." She finished the bone-knitting, helped Torres off, and motioned Seven up onto the doctor's desk. 

"I've got to get back to work," Torres tugged her dirty, torn uniform back into order. Seven closed her hand over Janeway's then spoke to B'Elanna, "Thank you for coming to assist me." 

"Next time, get yourself stuck in a little larger space, okay?" Janeway looked from her Chief Engineer to her Astrometrics officer. B'Elanna forestalled the question. "Seven had gone into the Jeffries tube to effect repairs herself. She was the only person in the immediate area. If she hadn't we might have lost integrity on deck ten completely. But she didn't count on getting caught in a collapsed conduit." 

Janeway's eyes shifted to Seven who remained stoic and silent. "So you beamed in to pull her out?" She thought about that. "Seven, you could have been stuck in there for hours." 

"I was not. I contacted Lieutenant Torres immediately. The only way in was to beam in, so that is what she did." 

"Glad I brought a cutting torch," Torres murmured. "We had twenty meters of collapsed conduit to get through." 

Janeway took a deep breath; there wasn't time to indulge her upset now, though she could feel it pulling at her stomach. Putting enough steel into her voice to cover up any quaver, she changed the subject. "I'll expect a full report tomorrow. For now, get Voyager back in shape." 

"Yes, Captain." Torres patted Seven on her uninjured knee, a gesture that wasn't lost on Voyager's commanding officer, spun on her heel and exited sickbay promptly. 

Alone now, Seven and Janeway studied one another before the captain returned to quietly knitting up the cuts and scrapes. "The Doctor will have to work on your implants there," Janeway indicated Seven's torn knee with a business-like tone. Then she fell silent. Her voice was soft and concerned when she resumed, "Does it hurt much?" 

"I cannot feel my leg at all," Seven reported. The dry tone did nothing to stop Janeway's alarmed expression. "The nanoprobes have isolated the area while they effect repairs." 

"Is that normal?" Janeway's hand settled on Seven's thigh. 

"It would be considerably more painful if they did not block the nerve impulses, Captain." 

"That's why you couldn't get yourself out of the Jeffries tube, isn't it? You couldn't move your legs." 

Seven nodded. Janeway again had a vision of Seven remaining stuck in that tube. She seldom worked with a partner and often was the only person around for several grids because she liked working in the isolation of the lab. If communications had been cut off, Seven would not have been able to reach B'Elanna. She would have remained undiscovered until a head count revealed her absence. 

_Dear God_ , Janeway thought, her face going ashen. She could have been blown out during explosive decompression and no one would have known for hours. 

"I am fine... Kathryn." Seven's grip settled on the captain's, bringing the gray-blue eyes to hers. The former Borg lifted her right hand to the captain's upper arm and squeezed lightly. "You also sustained injuries," she noted with precision. 

"How can you tell that? I've already been treated." 

"You would not be here had you not. And..." Seven paused and offered a faint smile. "I can see that the Commander does not wield a dermal regenerator with nearly as much skill as you do." She brushed her fingertips over the place where Janeway had suffered her cut to the temple. "May I continue repairs?" 

Moved by the tender touch against her skin, Janeway could only nodded mutely. Seven's fingers pulled the dermal regenerator from her own hands and she watched ice-blue eyes focus on the task, aware of the tingling as the skin was repaired more completely. 

Seven finished and set aside the regenerator. When her arms settled around the captain's waist, Janeway enjoyed the fact that she found herself surrounded by quiet warmth and strength. 

"Captain. Seven." The Doctor's voice interrupted the moment. 

They separated and Janeway reflexively grabbed the dermal regenerator. "Just finishing up, Doctor." 

He stepped inside his office and studied both faces. Janeway's was a little reddened, but the gash she had come in with was expertly repaired. Then he noticed Seven's left hand on the desk surface. The Borg components both there and on her thigh were compromised. "If you're alright, Captain. I'll see to Seven here." 

"My nanoprobes have already begun repairs," the blonde replied coolly. 

"No doubt. I'll just give them some help," he answered just as dryly. 

"Seven, do as the Doctor says," Janeway interjected as she saw the Borg open her mouth to protest again. 

"Thank you for your assistance earlier, Captain. Also thank the Commander," the Doctor said. 

"I'll do that." Janeway moved away from Seven. The Doctor supported the young Borg to a biobed, assisting her in lifting her leg onto the scanner surface so he could effectively treat the complex biotechnology. 

Seven's stifled wince was the last thing Janeway saw as she exited Sickbay, knowing, despite how she felt, she had to get back to the Bridge. 

Duty called.


	4. Gestures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Janeway entices Seven with a planetside break after the two complete their work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The picture included here was one of my attempts at fanart (2004).

Rylos IV was a perfect place for the combination geologic survey mission and much needed R & R for the Voyager crew. A long range scan had picked up this planet, among all its neighbors as having the highest concentrations of tellurite, a mineral ore easily convertible to a power source for the ship's heavier materials replicators.  _ An invaluable and useful thing _ , Captain Kathryn Janeway thought, squinting into the mid-morning sun. Especially if one needed to build new shuttlecraft, or make more permanent repairs to the Intrepid-class starship's duranium hull. 

After the last few run-ins with Hirogen and a member of Species 8472, the ship was in need of both, Janeway considered dryly. 

But the rotations of Away Teams for the mining, scouting and other mapping and extractions, also meant each shift received one week of shore leave. 

Which brought Janeway to the reason she was climbing out of a sheer canyon and shading her eyes against the breeze and sun, searching out the base camp's familiar structures against the horizon. Finished with her rotation cataloging the strata, she had informed Lt. Kim, back on Voyager, that he had command. 

She was determined to claim her rest and relaxation. And monopolize the time of a particular person to share it with her. She scanned the quiet settlement area as she approached and finally identified a figure half-buried in the shade of a sunshield set up before one of the cabins. 

Even without the benefit of illuminating sunlight, Kathryn Janeway would have recognized that profile. Over the last few weeks, she had become intimately familiar with the long-legged, slender woman who stood almost impossibly straight though she was cataloging specimens using a microscope on a small table. 

As the distance between them diminished, Janeway traced her gaze over the figure of Seven of Nine becoming more defined with every step closer. 

Seven of Nine was a former Borg the Captain had ordered severed from the Collective more than two years ago after negotiations with the technology hungry race went awry during a pitched battle with a formidable organic Species 8472. Since that fateful decision much of the young woman's Humanity had begun asserting itself as more and more of her Borg technology was removed, or deactivated. 

Nanoprobes flowed invisibly through her blood stream and likely would forever, regulating everything from her ability to heal quickly to increasing her stamina and endurance. An abdominal implant had been reduced so that her Human physiology could absorb nutrients rather than rely completely on a Borg alcove in Cargo Bay 2 for energy conversion. Otherwise there were very few outward reminders of Seven's former drone status. 

As Janeway came up from the left side slowly, she trailed her gaze over the gray ocular implant arching over Seven's left eye. The implant gave the young woman exceptional visual acuity outside the normal Human range. 

A metallic fiber mesh enclosed the young woman's left arm from the elbow down to her long fingers and enhanced her physical strength. Janeway watched as those fingers closed over another specimen glass and centered it under the microscope's viewer. 

Janeway knew the touch of those implants, knew they were warm and soft in their own way, grazing her skin with the lightest of touches whenever she and Seven managed time alone. 

Quick moments here and there flitted through the captain's mind: falling asleep in the captain's quarters entwined one evening after a particularly strenuous encounter, both on the Velocity court and in the big double bed in the captain's bedroom. 

Blushing a little, Kathryn realized where her thoughts had taken her. It was certainly not a place she had expected to be six years into a more than 30 year journey home commanding a lost Starfleet vessel in the unknown Delta quadrant toward her home port at the Utopia Planetia shipyard orbiting Mars. 

But it was remarkable, and wonderful, and freeing all the same to have fallen in love with the young beauty and discover that the love was returned in full measure. 

Dropping her eyes from her lover to hide her thoughts, Janeway noticed the vegetation, and the colorful buds on a flowering bush. Several of the blooms had opened with the kiss of the morning sun. The delicate shade of pink incredibly matched the color Seven's cheeks became whenever the captain had managed to exhaust the inexhaustible Borg. 

Though Seven never perspired, exertion could still claim a toll from her lean frame. And occasionally Janeway found ways to make the blonde's breath run short, her blood heating her skin. She bent over to pluck one of the blooms then felt a shadow drift over her. Rose-like blossom in hand, the stalk velvet in her palm, she looked up into Seven's curious sapphire-blue gaze. 

"Captain, do you wish for me to catalog that sample?" Janeway stood slowly, studying the bloom in her hand before returning her gaze to Seven. She shook her head. "No, I'm sure someone else cataloged it already." She hesitated even as a thought occurred to her. 

_ Would Seven even understand the gesture if Kathryn gave her the flower? _ "It's time for your shore leave, I believe," she said, stalling while she tried to come up with an explanation for her next action. She searched for one that would explain and at the same time not make it clinical. 

Seven's ocular implant raised slightly and Janeway knew that the young woman realized that had not been what she intended to say.  _ Better come up with something _ , she thought. 

She held the flower out. "This has a lovely smell," Kathryn suggested. "Don't you think so?" 

Instead of taking the flower, Seven stepped close, intimately filling the captain's personal space. Kathryn felt the air electrify around them. It was both the oddest and the most comforting sensation she had ever experienced, especially sharp when the Borg's hand wrapped around her wrist and lifted the flower for Seven's inspection. 

Janeway watched the slightly bent blonde head as Seven sniffed delicately at the blossom. "It has a... pleasing scent," was the analytical reply from the former drone. A blue eye suddenly caught Janeway off guard. "Almost as pleasant as yours," was added in a very soothing emotion-laden undertone that weakened the captain's knees like a tidal wave's undertow. 

"W... Would you like to join me for a picnic lunch?" Janeway managed. "I... thought we might spend some of our shore leave together."

Seven straightened up, tucking her hands behind her back and canting her head. "I believe, captain, that you... promised me a lesson... in tree climbing." 

Janeway nodded, remembering their conversation in the hydroponics lab. It must have been more than six weeks ago, she realized. "I believe I did," she returned tenderly. "Shall we?" 

Seven's fingers closed around the blossom's stem, in so doing she cupped Janeway's fingers. The touch of their skin was electric, drawing them tightly together. The captain lifted her chin and found Seven's lips descending briefly onto her own. It was an almost chaste kiss, promising, compelling and undemanding all at the same time. The captain's breathing was ragged when they finally parted. 

With the flower caught in their partnered grip, the two women walked side by side away from the base camp. The captain swept up a pair of lunch pouches on her way past the thermal locker.


	5. Tree-tise on a Captain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seven and Janeway go tree climbing.

Taking a deep breath, replete, Kathryn tucked the remainder of a second egg salad sandwich back into her lunch pouch. Then, careful to leave the land the way they'd found it --  _ couldn't have a Terran peach tree decide to spring up out here thousands of light years from Earth _ – she collected up the pit from the juicy peach she'd consumed for dessert. 

She rolled over Seven's thighs, where she reclined, and stretched out once more on her back, shading her eyes from the system's sun as she looked up into the strikingly Terran-like blue sky. At the horizon where the atmosphere was thickest, the color went almost white. 

The river's current tripped over stones and created a hazy white noise that dulled her senses a little, and made her sleepy. 

Seven's legs shifted. Kathryn nudged herself onto her elbows, tilting her head back to look up into the face she knew was looking down. "Sorry if I'm squashing you," she said, meeting cornflower blue orbs, and a slightly dimpled left cheek, signaling Seven's warm smile. 

"Your weight is not sufficient to 'squash' me, Kathryn," Seven replied simply, her hands idly moving over the older woman's shoulders. "You may return to sleep." 

Kathryn responded to the almost-massage and pushed herself up, dropping her head forward. "Oh that's wonderful," she said, her voice growing husky as her muscles gave up their knots to her partner's skilled fingers. 

Seven applied her fingertips with greater intent on the captain's shoulders through the heavy material of the smaller woman's red-shouldered Starfleet uniform. "I could do more if you removed your jacket," she said quietly. 

Lazily, Janeway nodded, and unzipped the tunic front, spreading her arms so Seven could slip the fabric off. When the young woman's hands strongly returned to her shoulders, she groaned in appreciation. After a few minutes, she realized she was beginning to curl up contentedly, having brought her knees up and resting her head and arms on them. "I think it's time to find that tree," she said, fighting her eyes that were trying to shut. 

"Are you certain?" Seven asked. "The lesson could wait until another time." 

"I've learned something, Annika," Kathryn said, turning into her young lover's arms and sinking into a lazy kiss as their bodies molded together. When she tore her mouth from Seven's, nibbling playfully at the full bottom lip, Janeway revealed her discovery. "We ought to take the times we can find and make the most of them." 

Seven tilted her head thoughtfully then nodded, tucking Janeway under her chin as the auburn-haired woman sank in for another hug. "I find myself wishing for more time together as well," she admitted. "It is illogical, because I know how much we both have to do..." 

"It's not illogical," Janeway explained. She pulled back and brushed her fingertips over the young blonde's smooth chin and angled cheeks. "Because captains are never illogical," she declared in a no-nonsense voice, and added with a smile: "And I feel the same way." 

Seven's eyes brightened in a way that Janeway knew meant she was fairly bursting with happiness, though the former Borg was far from being fully aware of all her emotional capabilities. Loving the captain, with her load of idiosyncrasies, seemed to have given the blonde a wider understanding. 

With expediency, Seven and Janeway stood, the captain brushing her uniform slacks clean and then turning to Seven. The Borg had contacted the ship by communicator and requested a beam out of their small pouch of trash. 

"We should keep the food," Seven suggested. 

"Good idea. Turn around, I'll brush off the grass bits," Janeway offered. The taller woman turned, watching the captain curiously from over her shoulder. 

Presented with Seven's long lean back, Janeway started just above Seven's hips and brushed downward, then her strokes slowed, as she felt the woman's heat through the biosuit, and unconsciously she began caressing the young woman's rear and muscular legs. Both women indulged the touch, enjoying the heightening sensuality filling the air around them like a warm blanket. At long last, from behind, Janeway slipped her arms around Seven's waist, catching her hands across Seven's abdomen and pressing her face into the tapered spine, inhaling the indefinable, but clean scent of the younger woman. Seven's fingers stroked over Janeway's lower arms and they remained like that for a long undetermined time, absorbing the sun's heat along with their own. 

"The tree," Janeway murmured finally. "Come on." She pulled away from Seven's back and instead put out her hand, indicating with a nod that Seven should put her own in it. Now leading, Janeway walked toward the line of trees set off from the riverbank where they had indulged in lunch. 

The river's burble faded as the wind's rustling of the trees' leaves grew closer. Seven cocked her head, listening to the wildlife noises within the small forest of trees. 

Beside Seven, Kathryn studied the trees, gauging each for size and simplicity. The years seemed to drop away as she considered several, then discarded them for one reason or another. Finally she located a gnarled one, with a thick, sinewy trunk that spiraled upward; large branches shot out in all directions. Stepping away from Seven, she pressed her hands to the trunk, and gazed up into the foliage above, studying the leaf formation. "Let's just check for poisons first," she considered, stepping back. "Otherwise this is the one." 

Seven reached up and snatched down a single leaf, turning it over and over in her left palm, sensors analyzing it in seconds. "It has a sticky secretion, but it does not match any criterion for being poisonous," she confirmed. 

"Great!" Janeway stepped back and analyzed her approach for a brief moment. "Step back, Seven," she warned finally, and then rocked back on her heels, bouncing until she sprang for the low branch directly above their heads. With a smile Janeway seized the branch on either side and, hand over hand moved her body weight toward the central trunk. Finally she swung up and over the branch, straddling it, resting back against the trunk. 

Kathryn gulped in a series of quick breaths, surprised at how much exertion her body had gone through. After a moment finding her balance, she looked down at Seven who studied her intently from below and said, a chuckle clear in her husky tones, "Do you think you can get up here?" 

"Actually where you are at present would be in my way," Seven assessed. "I should try to climb up elsewhere." 

Janeway agreed and turned, pointing out another branch spiraling out from the central trunk just on the other side of where she sat. It started a little higher than the captain's, but Seven's difference in height would account for that. "Why not use that one?" she suggested. 

"All right." Seven moved over under the recommended branch. 

"First, you'll need to build a little momentum," Janeway explained. "The jump's a good distance.”

"I do not believe I will need to jump," Seven said consideringly. Then she reached up, stretching on her toes just touching the sides of the branch in question. "I believe I can pull myself up." 

"Well, all right. I'll get down and spot you," Janeway said, starting to shift her weight in preparation for sliding off the branch and taking a controlled drop to the ground. 

"No," Seven said, even as Janeway was starting to toss her leg over. The full firm voice gave Janeway pause. She watched in open-mouthed awe as Seven reached up, wrapping her large hands around the tree branch. No doubt it was the younger woman's enhanced upper body and arm strength that allowed her the capacity to perform the press maneuver where she levered her body half over the branch, feet still dangling, and then casually swung one leg over, like mounting a horse with a saddle. 

"Did I do that correctly?" Seven asked, settling herself more comfortably, facing the central trunk and looking across (and slightly down) to Janeway on the other branch. 

Kathryn was astonished. "You did that perfectly." 

Seven dropped her gaze and resettled her position in the shadows of the tree. Kathryn could see the younger woman's pinkening cheeks. Janeway had to strain to hear Seven's soft words. "If I am successful, it is because of my teacher." Seven lifted her chin and met the captain's eyes with poise. 

Kathryn felt pride and joy among other emotions fill her chest tightly. "You've been a wonderful pupil," she whispered back. 

From her vantage, Janeway scanned out over the river basin, only able to see as far as the turn in the river that was rough with rocks as it carved a path through the planet's surface. 

With a smile, she pointed out the mountains that curled away from the river; at first gentle sloping hills, then rough crags that sheared straight up out of the planet's mantle. 

"This planet's geologic history was quite violent," noted Seven. 

"I think it's beautiful," Kathryn sighed. "It reminds me of home," she mused. 

"You have spoken of Indiana many times," Seven commented. "Your sister still lives there?" 

"Yes, and Mother." 

Seven watched Kathryn's expression grow distant, focusing on something light-years beyond reach. Sadness crept into the cobalt blue, shading them gray. She knew without a doubt that no matter what was here, Kathryn's heart lay at that place Seven had never seen. "Will you show me someday?" she asked, suddenly wanting to know if Kathryn saw them together at that time, when "home" was within reach. 

The captain didn't answer, shaking off her reverie. Likely, Seven thought, she had not really heard. Her surmise was further strengthened when Kathryn pushed to her feet and, pointing upward, asked, "Ready to go further?" 

Seven nodded her assent, content just to spend time, experiencing anything and everything with the compact woman for whom she cared so much. 

Directing Seven behind her, Kathryn moved from her branch to one across from Seven's. Muscles rippling in her shoulders, she swung up and crouched in wait as the branch stopped shifting. "Now you," she encouraged the Borg.

The boughs shook more under the taller woman's more considerable mass. Using her Borg-enhanced strength she was, however, able to join the captain on the interior of the next higher branch. 

The boughs parted directly before them, affording them a view toward the valley where Voyager had been set down. 

Sunlight sent sparkles across the duratanium hull, winking across the surface. Dark figures swarmed over her, effecting the last of the repairs. 

Kathryn realized she'd been staring when Seven's hand slipped wordlessly over her shoulder from behind. 

Unexpectedly she felt tears form and slide down her cheeks. Yet she turned her face to Seven's. Her voice was open and honest when she asked, "Will I ever get her home?" 

"Her home is the stars, Kathryn. But her crew will reach Earth." Seven reached out with her right palm and cradled the captain's cheek, her touch the only thing she could find to convince the older woman just how deeply she believed. Captain Kathryn Janeway, no doubt soon to be a legend in two quadrants, would find a way back. 

A desire to hug Seven filled Kathryn's chest and she nudged herself up on the branch and leaned across the small space, bracing herself against the branch with splayed palms. Seven watched her, in that completely absorbing way that made Kathryn feel like she was being consumed alive -- and the feeling was so strong, she reached out for Seven's subconsciously offered hand. 

Instead of the woman's hand however, she closed her fist over air. For a split second she was suspended as her boots slipped from the branch below and her upper arm bent around the branch where Seven sat. But she could feel that hold giving way, the bark scraping her forearm painfully. She opened her mouth to yell something, anything. 

Then suddenly, Seven's hand grasped the material of Kathryn's gray undershirt, just behind Kathryn's head, keeping the older woman from plummeting to the ground below. With care, the captain eased her other arm around the trunk and, with Seven's one-arm assistance, found herself scrabbling onto the same branch. 

There were tears in her eyes from effort, and then mortification came. "God, that was close," she gasped. "Thank you." Janeway wrapped her arms around her own chest when she realized she was trembling, from delayed fear she guessed. 

When she glanced across to Seven she saw the young woman looking down at the ground, and her hands worked over the tree bark in spasmodic caresses. 

"What's wrong?" Kathryn reached out and brushed Seven's full lips with her fingertips, drawing the woman's eyes, which were an astonishingly washed slate gray, up to meet her gaze. 

Grasping Kathryn's hand where it soothed over her skin, Seven struggled. Janeway could see the intense concentration mar the smooth line of the former Borg's forehead, to define her reaction. "I... do not know. My heart is racing, yet I have not exerted my systems. My throat is tight," she worked out haltingly around the constriction. "And I have an image of you, crumpled on the ground below." She swallowed and examined that reaction against her experience. "I believe it is fear," Seven concluded. "But it is more disabling than the fear I felt when the Doctor helped me recall the attack by Kovin." 

Janeway and Seven leaned together, very carefully, for a shared fortifying hug. Seven inhaled and, mingled with the scent of the surrounding nature, smelled the sharp tanged scent of Kathryn, a musk she had identified solely with the captain, and which made her stomach fidget and her loins run hot. She buried her face in the captain's auburn hair as she felt Janeway nuzzle into her own throat. Their arms around one another squeezed more firmly. 

"I believe I would like to get down from here," Seven suggested more calmly than she felt. 

Separating, Janeway backed up against the tree trunk and, in tandem, they both slipped around the branch and dropped to the ground. Seven landed on her feet, however, Kathryn slipped on a patch of fallen leaves and unceremoniously fell on her buttocks. 

As Seven helped her up with a strong grip of her right hand, Janeway looked up at the towering tree, recalling the hours during her childhood that she had enjoyed up up in many an old Indiana oak. "Maybe I am too big to be climbing trees," Kathryn said sadly. "I'm sorry, Seven." 

"There is nothing to apologize for, Kathryn," Seven said, as they tucked their arms around one another and started to walk back toward the river. 

"I wanted to share that with you. I wanted to see you discover the enjoyment I had as a child," Kathryn said wistfully. 

"We share many things already which I enjoy," Seven replied factually. "Velocity, working in Da Vinci's studio, our sexual interaction..." She trailed off, having felt the sharply pleasant hardening of her nipples that always preceded such interactions with the captain. "I find I wish to share the last with you... now," she murmured, beginning to caress the captain's right hip with the intent to arouse, moving up and cradling the side of the woman's breast in her palm. "Would you agree?"

Kathryn found her answer in the touch of Seven's mouth slipping over her own, a heretofore unaccented hunger lacing the kiss. Seven's teeth grazed her jawline on the younger woman's way down the captain's throat. 

Impatient hands worked from her hips, up under her shirt, to caress her. Kathryn's head fell back and her knees weakened, causing her to sag in Seven's steadying grip. 

"Oh God!" her voice closing on a short gasp as the blonde completely surrounded her, lowering them both to the ground. "Right here,right now?" It almost wasn't a question, but a sharply felt plea as Seven's touch rapidly drove away any coherent thought. 

Her fingers slid, without conscious volition, into Seven's hair, finding the pins and setting the spun gold locks free around her hand. All the while she and Seven nipped at each other's lips with tongue and teeth; passion expelling the vestiges of fear for one another. 

Surrounded and warmed by Seven and sun, Captain Kathryn Janeway lost her sense of time and place, succumbing to the experience of making love out of doors -- something she had never done. Instead she fell completely under the spell of the willowy woman rapidly raising her heart rate and making her throat constrict in delirious pleasure. 

"Sev...en!" she gasped when the long slim fingers found what they sought beneath the waistband of Kathryn's unbuttoned uniform pants. "Oh, God... Seven." 

She opened her eyes and met her lover's, watching the beloved face intently. The woman's left brow, shaded by the gray curvature of a remaining implant, lifted in question. "Kathryn?" The blonde's body went stone-still, eyes moving away from Kathryn's and fixing on some point above the captain's head. The young woman's hand stilled against the rounded curve of Janeway's lower belly. 

"Yes, darling?" Janeway caught her breath with a large inhalation. She tried to caress Seven's cheek to draw the woman's eyes back down. 

"We are being observed," the Borg replied succinctly, in a low husky warning. "A predator is poised at the edge of the river." 

Janeway's passion was instantly doused by icy cold fear. With the heat of Seven's body against her, she rolled onto her hands, to assess the situation. 

"Do not move, Kathryn." Even as Seven's voice sounded low and hot against her ear, Janeway saw the slight movement about fifty paces away from their present position. 

_ Oh dear God _ , she thought, absorbing the sight of a four-legged cat-like predator crouched to attack and baring canines longer than Kathryn's hand. A low growl issued from jaws massive enough to take an arm clean through. The gray-black furred animal resembled a picture the captain had once seen in primary school, of an ancient cat called a Saber-tooth Tiger. 

It sniffed the air and saliva began dripping from its maw in anticipation. Keeping their mutual profile very low, Kathryn, with Seven crouched over her, tapped her comm badge. Sharply but softly, she contacted the ship, praying for expediency. "Janeway to Voyager. Emergency. Two to beam out." 

With only the acknowledgement of sparkles before their eyes and the tingle that signaled transport, Voyager whisked them out of harm's way as they both saw the predator's muscles flex. Warm spongy green earth was suddenly replaced by sterile bright, hard white. The change unsettled both Seven and Janeway enough that Kathryn collapsed to the transporter platform, momentarily crushed by Seven's greater mass. 

"Captain?" Ensign Jenkins, manning the console, looking up in shock at the two officers. Seven rolled off, her position shielding the captain from view. Collecting herself, Janeway sat up as her heart rate slowed. "That was close," she said to Seven. 

The blonde studied Janeway critically. 

"I'm fine, Seven," Kathryn shrugged off the concern she could see. "Really." Seven nodded and Janeway came to her feet. In perfect tandem, maintaining her position between the captain and the transporter operator, Seven also rose. 

Annoyed, Kathryn ducked around Seven, issued a "Thank you" to the ensign, then proceeded out into the corridor. 

Seven's voice paused her on the way to the turbolift at the far end. "Where are we going, captain?"

Turning around and stepping backward into the turbolift, Janeway both commanded the computer and supplied the answer to Seven. "Bridge." 

The young woman stepped quickly into the 'lift. As the doors closed, eyes forward, Seven casually tucked her hands behind her back. "Perhaps you should change first?" 

Janeway looked down at herself ready to argue but then blushed hotly and ordered, "Computer, halt turbolift." 

Catching her reflection in the side of the 'lift, she sighed. Sheepishly she straightened her short sleeve top, realizing that she had appeared like this -- utterly ravished -- on the transporter pad. 

When she went to tuck it into her pants, she flushed hotly again. Her side buttons had been undone as well. The only thing keeping her decent being the fact that she'd been reasonably blessed with a slim waist and good hips. 

It was a mistake, when she was finishing, however, to look at Seven. The young Borg was unable to hide the fact that she found Janeway attractive. "Better?" she asked the intent-looking young woman. Kathryn felt her own blood surge once more.  _ God _ , she thought.  _ I want her again. Now _ . 

Seven was even more disheveled looking, simply because the immaculate young woman never wore her hair down, and right now it was loose and flowing against the top of her shoulders. Janeway felt her fingers begin to itch. 

She pulled her body into Seven's, driving the taller woman against the side of the car and ravished her lips with eagerness. When she felt the weakness sag Seven against the wall, she pulled back, a smile of satisfaction shaping her lips. "Computer, resume." 

In another moment, the turbolift opened to the bridge. With a grin over her shoulder, Janeway exited, instantly changing the grin to all-business when she met Ensign Harry Kim rising to attention from the command well. 

Harry had started to his feet but was puzzled to see Janeway, clearly dirt-covered, in her undershirt. "Is there something wrong, Captain?" 

Shaking her head, Janeway slung herself down into her command chair, draping her wrists over the armrests. "Not a thing, Ensign. Not a thing." She flipped open the right-hand console and requested, "Status report." 

Harry responded, "The last repair team just reported in, ma'am." 

Keying her communication, Janeway called. "Bridge to Engineering." 

"Torres here, Captain." 

"All work complete, Lieutenant?" 

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good work, B'Elanna." Turning to Kim, Janeway ordered, "I want all personnel recalled, Mr. Kim. We're breaking atmosphere at 1700 hours as planned." 

"Yes, ma'am." 

Blood running hot, Janeway concluded the flurry of activity with anticipation. She sent a key to Seven to alert the Borg to check her messages, then sent the following note:  _ "My quarters, 1900. K." _ Closing the console she allowed a smile. 

_ Life is good _ , she thought. Unexpected at times, but very, very good. 

**THE END**


End file.
